Navy Blues primed for Melville

Words: ACFC Media

Thursday 18 April 2024

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - League leaders Auckland City FC are determined to maintain their winning streak when they host Melville United in Round 6 of the Northern League on Saturday afternoon at Kiwitea Street.

Navy Blues fans couldn’t have asked for a better start to their side’s 2024 domestic campaign with Albert Riera’s men producing a string of stylish and confident performances to notch up five victories from as many matches.

Saturday afternoon’s encounter will see City returning to Kiwitea Street eager to bag another three points against their visiting rivals from Hamilton.

Melville currently sit in 9th place on the competition ladder, 12 points behind the Navy Blues, with one win and four defeats from their previous five matches.

However based on the last two Northern League meetings between these two sides the hosts can’t afford to take anything for granted.

On the back of a brilliant performance by experienced goalkeeper Max Tommy, who produced a number of eye catching saves, Melville proved to be a difficult opponents to City at Kiwitea almost exactly twelve months ago.

Despite playing the majority of the match with ten men, the visitors repelled chance after chance to frustrate the Navy Blues before falling short in the closing stages of a keenly contested encounter.

In their second match of 2023, the Navy Blues were made to work hard again for their narrow 1-0 win at Gower Park.

HEAD TO HEAD - MELVILLE UNITED AFC

Saturday’s match will be the seventh encounter between the two clubs since their first meeting in April 2021 which ended in a 3-0 win for City on the road.

The Navy Blues have won on all six previous occasions with Joe Lee netting in their last meeting in Hamilton to help his side to a hard-earned 1-nil victory in Round 17 of the Northern League in July 2023.

2023
Melville United 0-1 Auckland City
Auckland City FC 3-1 Melville United

2022
Auckland City FC 2-0 Melville United
Melville United 0-1 Auckland City
Auckland City FC 1-1 Melville United

2021
Melville United 0-3 Auckland City

Meanwhile some key milestones loom for a number of players heading into Saturday’s match.

Striker Ryan De Vries closes in on two major personal achievements with the former All Whites striker on 192 matches and 98 goals.

Only one player has scored more goals for the club with Emiliano Tade ending his City career with 152 goals in 242 appearances.

De Vries’ strike partner Angus Kilkolly is on 99 appearances and will reach his century mark, if selected on saturday.

Only 25 out of 240 players across 20 years have achieved triple figures with Kilkolly also netting 52 goals for the club ranking him fourth in the list of all-time top scorers behind Tade (152), De Vries (98), Grant Young (66) and Keryn Jordan (62).

Elsewhere, Dylan Manickum is within touching distance of his 50th goal for the club.

Manickum, on 48 goals, could become the seventh player in club history to smash the half-century mark, a record compiled across 128 games to date.

Meanwhile, Valerio Raccuglia’s U23 side will be hoping to notch up their fourth consecutive Lotto NRFL Premiership win when they host their Melville counterparts in Saturday’s Round 6 match at the Croatian Cultural Club with kick-off scheduled for 12pm.

Ends

MATCH DETAILS
Northern League Round 6
Saturday 20 April 2024
Auckland City FC v. Melville Utd AFC
Kiwitea Street, Sandringham
Kick-off: 3.00pm

AC SQUAD: 1-Conor TRACEY (GK), 2- Mario ILICH, 3- Adam MITCHELL, 4-Christian GRAY, 5- Timothy BOULET, 7-Cam HOWIESON (c), 8-Gerard GARRIGA. 9-Angus KILKOLLY, 10-Dylan MANICKUM, 11-Ryan DE VRIES, 12- Regont MURATI, 13-Nathan LOBO, 15- Caleb MOOSBALLY, 16-Joe LEE, 17-Joe RIDLEY, 18 - Areya PRASAD (GK), 19-Liam GILLION, 21- Adam BELL, 22-Tong ZHO, 23- Alfie ROGERS, 24-Joe WALLIS (GK), 25- Michael DEN HEIJER, 26-Rayan TAYEB, 27-Stipe UKICH.

COACH: Albert RIERA
ASSISTANT COACH: Ivan VICELICH
GK COACH: Enaut ZUBIKARAI
TECHNICAL: Adria CASALS
TECHNICAL: Jarrod WALLACE
LOGISTICS: Keith COTON
PHYSIO: Matt PAYNE